THE petroleum arm of Danish shipping company Maersk has made a significant new gas find in the North Sea.

Maersk Oil made the discovery, which it has confirmed is a significant hydrocarbon find, drilling an extension of its Clulzean well 100 miles east of Aberdeen.

Early well tests delivered a rig constrained rate of nearly 40 million cubic feet of gas in the new field as well as 900 barrels of natural gas condensate per day.

Martin Rune Pedersen, Maersk Oil's UK managing director said: "The production test shows that the Culzean discovery has the potential to be one of the most promising HPHT discoveries in the UK sector in recent years."